This invention relates to a canister structure for serving as a missile launch tube and/or shipping container.
In the past, missile canisters have been too structurally compliant compared to the encased missile to properly protect the missile electronics and rocket motors from excessive shock upon transportation and deployment. The encased missile becomes the xe2x80x98stiffening beamxe2x80x99 reinforcing the canister verses the other way around, hence the primary shock loads are carried by the missile, not the canister. Numerous means of enabling metallic canisters to meet shock and vibration attenuation requirements have either required crushable endcaps for one time drop shock mitigation, and/or complex shipping container packaging schemes for vibration isolation.
According to an aspect of the invention, a missile shipping and launch canister for housing a missile encased therein includes an outer canister shell structure. A plume impingement end plate structure is attached to the outer shell structure at a first end thereof. An inner liner is disposed within the outer shell structure, the inner liner sized to house and protect the encased missile from transportation and shipping environments during deployment. The inner liner includes guide surfaces for guiding the missile during launch egress while protecting deployable wings and control surfaces of the missile, and for thermally insulating the missile from a launch motor plume. The outer canister shell structure serves as a load-carrying structure that attaches the plume impingement end plate structure at the first end to form an integral plenum chamber, and attaches the cover to the second end to encase the missile.